Hunt announces £260m fund for e-prescriptions

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced a new £260m fund for hospitals to increase the use of technology such as e-prescribing and electronic patient records.

The announcement is part of the minister’s response to the Francis report, which called on the NHS to make use of the benefits of using up-to-date technology to improve care, particularly in the area of prescribing.

The fund is aimed at increasing the use of e-prescribing to help stop drugs being prescribed incorrectly when patient notes have been lost.

According to the Department of Health (DOH), at least 11 people died in the NHS last year because they were given the wrong prescriptions, and almost 8% of hospital prescriptions contain errors, with studies showing that the use of technology can cut these errors by half.

The fund will also go towards electronic patient records, which the DOH says will help protect patients by ensuring doctors and nurses can access accurate details about their care and make a patient’s journey through different parts of the NHS safer, because their records can follow them electronically wherever they go.

The department added that NHS hospitals can bid for the money to fund projects, but in order to be eligible they must prove that these will lead to better, safer care.

Hunt explained that hospitals will use the fund to replace outdated paper-based systems for patient notes and prescriptions as part of the push for a paperless, digital NHS by 2018.

Hunt said, "This fund will allow doctors and nurses to make the NHS safer by harnessing the very latest technology.

"In many places, right now, a paramedic picking up a frail elderly woman who has had a fall will not always know she has dementia, because he or she cannot access her notes. Or a doctor is prescribing the wrong drugs, because they don’t know what drugs their patient is already on."

"If we are to improve patient safety then we must allow the NHS to have access to the best tools available and this fund will help them achieve that."

"It will be primarily used for ‘electronic prescribing’ – which means computer generated prescriptions sent by doctors directly to pharmacies, linked to barcodes unique to each patient. This kind of technology plays a huge part in cutting errors and improving safety."

The NHS Mandate announced in November 2012 contained a commitment that by March 2015 everyone who wishes will be able to get online access to their GP health records and book appointments and repeat prescriptions online.

Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, Medical Director of NHS England, said, "This new fund will help patients get better and safer care by giving clinicians access to the right information when they need it most.

"Supporting hospitals to replace outdated paper systems for notes and prescriptions will help relieve patients’ frustration at having to repeat their medical and medication history over and over again, often in the same hospital, because their records aren’t available.

"Expanding the use of electronic prescribing of medications in hospitals will help improve safety, save lives and save taxpayer’s money."